b² Taphouse & Brewery

 

 

South Salem's first strictly taphouse/growler fill station. (I don't count Venti's for a variety of reasons. That's for another review)

The atmoshphere is cozy and clean. No loud music playing that you have to talk over. They have one flat screen TV on the wall primarily playing sports. It's fairly small inside but not too cramped. (Except for IPA day. But I got there early so seating was no problem for me.) They also have two outside tables that seat maybe 3/4 people each.

B2 featues 31 rotating taps with 2 dedicated to wine and 1 to a cider of some kind. Mostly they focus on NW selections but do branch out frequently. They serve all their pints (true 16oz pints) in nonic glasses vs. your standard shaker pint that you'll get essentially everywhere else in Salem. They also have tulips and some guy donated a few Westmalle chalices. :) If you're looking for Boneyard in Salem, they almost always have Hop Venom or RPM on tap.

The service here is top notch! Bryan, co-owner with his wife Barb are class people and are always happy to let you sample anything on the menu. Bryan is always upbeat and more than happy to chat with you over a couple beers and a growler fill.

As far as food goes, they only have pretzels and popcorn. But as others have previously mentioned, they regularly have food carts parked outside.

The location is a bit tricky to find for the first time if you're not from around here. It's on the east side of Commercial St. in between the Phoenix Inn and a Chevron gas station.

Overall, I rarely, if ever go to any other bar in Salem now. This place is right down the street from my house and always has at least 3/4 beers on tap that i'd be happy with drinking all night or getting something to go. If you're ever in South Salem definitley give this place a shot. I'm headed there now. Cheers!

I drive back and forth from Eugene fairly often, so I was intrigued to read about this new place in Salem. So I stopped by on Saturday.

b2 is not the easiest place to find. While it's located right on Commercial St., for some reason google maps wants you to take all kinds of surface roads to eventually get there. Even then, for some reason google drops you off in some grocery store parking lot, nowhere near the taphouse. In any event, as you're heading north on Commercial St., the taphouse is on your right, but in the back of a small strip mall. There's a sign out front, but it's not that obvious, making it very easy to drive by without ever spotting it.

Once you get to the taphouse, the place is surprisingly small, with just a few tables and chairs and a small bar area up front. This place is really more of growler fill station, and in fact that's what most of the folks stopping by were doing when I arrived. Like Growler Nation in Eugene, you can also buy a glass of everything they have on tap as well, and you're free to hang out and watch TV for as long as you like (also like growler nation, they have a single, flat screen TV on the wall in the small dining area). As for the selection, I agree with the other reviewers who noted that it's pretty damn good. They have something like 30 beers on tap (they also had a few bottles for sale as well, but that's clearly not the emphasis here), as well as a couple types of wine I believe. Quality is good as well, and I was happy to see things like the De Garde Houblon red, New Belgium Trip XVII and Double Mountain poseur.

As for service, I just don't think this is one area where this place is ever going to shine. The women working here were friendly, but waits to get a beer were just too long (IMHO). This is another place where you stand in line to order at the bar, and it can take a while, as the staff are expected to make change, pour glasses of beer or wine, fill growlers and pour samples for customers (there was a lot of that going on). You can also buy a sample flight of 4 beers, and I saw a lot of folks doing that. When I first arrived, there was just one woman taking orders, and to say she was in the weeds would be an understatement (things improved when a second woman showed up roughly a half hour after I arrived). Also, they pour beer directly from the tap spigot into the growler (for some reason, they don't have a hose attachment), so of course there's a problem with foam overflow. So that was yet another problem with the service on this day (protracted waits to get your growler completely filled).

The service issue aside, this is pretty clearly an outstanding place, and one I'll certainly visit again. Prices struck me as very reasonable for growler fills (ranging between $11 and $14.50, generally), ranging to cheap for glass fills ($4 for most things, but even my pint of poseur was only $4.50!). Also, while there is no kitchen here (did I mention that this place is very small?), I gather that Fire and Slice stop by pretty often, setting up their wood fire pizza shop out front. So I'm assuming that most of the time, getting something to snack on while having a pint or three isn't a problem.

This is definitely a solid spot and a great addition to Salem's ever improving craft beer scene. I'll certainly be back.

New tap house in Salem, 29 taps of mostly Oregon/Cali micro brews some quite rare ,in this area anyway. Its in a newish shopping development just off busy Commercial street..its round the back. Nice clean open space inside..couple of tables outside. Large bar..a few tables inside, some comfier sofa type seating also. Nice people, great selection. On some nights food carts come around..last night it was wood fired pizza...they sold 90! Great addition to the growing Salem scene!

Yet another tap room/growler fill station in Salem! b2 (pronounced bee-squared, not bee-two), further expands Salem's bourgeoning craft beer scene and gives us Salem beer geeks another reason to rejoice.

b2 features a Northwest-heavy tap list, with beers that skew to the "not packaged" side, though there are a smattering of craft beers from around the country mixed in. b2 employs the Digital Pour beer menu, which is truly the luxury car of beer menus. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. I think the intent at b2 was originally to be a mostly growler fill place, but it's a great place to hang out for a few pints. They feature rotating bingo/trivia on Wednesdays, and often have brewer nights featuring local breweries as well as bigger, nationally distributed brands.

Pint and growler prices are reasonable. They also use nonic pint glasses rather than shaker pints, which I appreciate. Probably a minor detail, but appreciated nonetheless. It also should be mentioned that Bryan, one of the owners, is a super nice guy and will happily chat about beer, pour tastes, or make recommendations if needed.

There's no food for sale, but they do offer pretzels and a popcorn machine. However, local food carts/trucks (particularly Fire n' Slice & Fusion) are set up in the parking lot on a daily basis.

b2 has become my go-to beer spot in Salem, and that's saying something considering the quality of beer establishments that have popped up in town over the past couple of years.